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Moving motivators – Management 3.0

Why do we do the things we do? What motivates a person, what drives a team? What’s holding a team back? Mgt 3.0 has defined 10 intrinsic motivators (desires) – in the “movingmotivators” exercise you can discover and reflect upon what motivates you and your team.

More about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, 10 intrinsic motivators, and moving motivators game.

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation

Let’s recap and define what we mean with extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation.

The primary difference between the two types of motivation is that extrinsic motivation arises from outside of the individual while intrinsic motivation arises from within.

Extrinsic motivation occurs when we are motivated to perform a behaviour or engage in an activity to earn a reward or avoid punishment.

Examples of behaviours that are the result of extrinsic motivation include:

Studying because you want to get a good grade

Cleaning your room to avoid being reprimanded by your parents

Participating in a sport to win awards

Competing in a contest to win a scholarship

In each of these examples, the behaviour is motivated by a desire to gain a reward or avoid an adverse outcome.

Intrinsic motivation involves engaging in a behaviour because it is personally rewarding; essentially, performing an activity for its own sake rather than the desire for some external reward.

Examples of actions that are the result of intrinsic motivation include:

Participating in a sport because you find the activity enjoyable

Solving a word puzzle because you find the challenge fun and exciting

Playing a game because you find it exciting

In each of these instances, the person’s behaviour is motivated by an internal desire to participate in an activity for its own sake.

The overjustification effect is a phenomenon in which being rewarded for doing something actually diminishes intrinsic motivation to perform that action. The overjustification effect occurs when an external incentive decreases a person’s intrinsic motivation to perform a behavior or participate in an activity.

10 intrinsic motivators

Mgt 3.0 has defined 10 intrinsic motivators (desires): you can memorise them as CHAMPFROGS

Curiosity: I have plenty of things to investigate and to think about.

Honor: I feel proud that my personal values are reflected in how I work.

Acceptance: The people around me approve of what I do and who I am.

Mastery: My work challenges my competence but it is still within my abilities.

Power: There’s enough room for me to influence what happens around me.

Freedom: I am independent of others with my work and my responsibilities.

Relatedness: I have good social contacts with the people in my work.

Order: There are enough rules and policies for a stable environment.

Goal: My purpose in life is reflected in the work that I do.

Status: My position is good, and recognized by the people who work with me.

Moving motivators

You can play the game as following:

Introduce the different intrinsic motivators with some background explanation and an example

Step 1 of the exercise:

Let each person individually order (rank) the motivators by importance from left to right (in the Western world): with left, the least important motivators and right the most important motivators

Let people (could be in pairs) explain a bit by answering the questions: what motivates you the most? and what motivates you the least?

Step 2 of the exercise:

Let each person individually indicate how daily work (or a particular change in daily work) influence the motivators. Do your daily activities influence your motivators in a positive (move them upward) or negative way (move them downward)?

Let people (could be in pairs) explain a bit the change. Why is that shift happening?

Optionally you can count the ranking of each motivator card and create a graphical overview: a “team motivating radar”. Repeat this exercise at a later point in time and compare to see if there’s any evolution.

Keep the following in mind:

There is no right or wrong in this exercise. Each human being has different motivators and the purpose of this exercise is to expose those differences. The goal is to be able to learn more about your peers’ motivation and to better collaborate in the future.

As a team, focus on those top motivators different from your peers. From this you can create a better shared understanding and get some better insight in why people are doing certain things.

As an individual, focus on those motivators which are negatively impacted: what’s the underlying cause? How can I proceed in the future to improve on this?

Invite people to share their thoughts and underlying needs to learn about their motivators. Trigger reposes by asking open questions.

Use the output of this exercise as an information radiator for the team

Use the exercise for 1 on 1 coaching or use the exercise for coaching in a group (e.g. during or after a retrospective)